Contemplation
by Vycksta
Summary: One pulled off the victory and gained hero status in Orre, the other felt defeat and went in hiding. Yet for Wes, the former member of Team Snagem and Ein, the ex Cipher admin, a new battle was beginning for them both... a constant battle of emotions.
1. Prologue: The End?

**Title**: Contemplation  
**Fandom**: Pokemon  
**Ship**: RaiSnagshipping (( Ein x Wes ))  
**Rating**: Starts off fluffy, gets more suggestive as the chapters go on...

**Authors Notes**: I'll be blunt, it's about time I got this up.

Contemplation was originally called Confusion and I started this back in August last year for Chan and Alicia, the former cause she was having a craze over the ship and the latter cause she disliked the low number of fics for this pair. Back then though, I lacked any real ideas with it and left it to rot... until about three weeks ago. Gave it a new name, developed the idea, turned it from an extensive one-shot to a chaptered fic et voila!

This chapter is harmless, except for an odd swear word. As said earlier, any suggestive sex and whatnot will come up in the later chapters.

Flamers can go and put themselves out and anybody else, I hope you like. I'm happier with this fic now that I have improved on it, yet if you have any constructive criticism then let me know. I'm not entriely sure i'm going to get the personas right on this, it has been a very long time since I played Pokemon Collosseum.

---

"You did it Wes! You did it!" came the enthralled screams of a female in her early teenage years, hands shaking and head bopping to each side as if someone was playing terrible disco music in the background, inviting anyone within a ten metre radius to do the macarena. "You stopped the team that threatened to destroy the region we live in! Every single resident of Orre can now sleep peacefully thanks to you!"

"Cool it Rui, please..." Wes calmly replied, as if somewhat embarrassed at being labelled as a saviour, a hero. "You did help me out a lot, with your ability to identify the Shadow Pokemon..."

"Ah, but who was it that snagged them with a collective ease? Who was it who came up with the ideas of what should be the next plan of action? Who was it who relentlessly battled trainers to purify the Shadow Pokemon to use against Cipher? Who was it? Huh? YOU... and Wes..." Rui sighed slightly before forming a rather disturbing grin. "Look at what you have done!"

With that said Rui turned around at a slight angle and opened out her right arm, treating it as an invitation to get Wes to follow the direction in which the limb was taking. The male with the appearance of a rogue did so with his eyes, watching Rui's arm with some sort of apathy as it finished its short destination... at the screaming, celebrating crowds in the stands of the Colosseum residing in the Realgam Tower. He may have been at a distance, but Wes should still tell what the figures in the stands were up to. There were groups of people hugging each other like they not been in the shared company for a decade. Others had arms linked together and were jigging in circles, ignoring any upcoming dizzy spells and clearly living for the moment. One young girl was doing what Rui did a short while earlier, squealing like a horde of banshees and throwing her arms about in a determination to loosen them from their sockets, all while sitting on the shoulders of her just as jubilant Mother, who was shouting her ecstasy at another woman next to her and dishing out the high fives. Wes watched the events in front of him, still feeling rather apathetic and distracted from it all, but the loud, many decibel cries from a source that resided many metres above him jolted him back to reality.

Moving his shades down over his eyes so he could look up without being blinded by the rays of the powerful Sun, Wes located the source of the calls... a Pokemon with feathers so elegant they could win a beauty contest on their own and so colourful they seemingly gave off miniature rainbows whenever a bolt of light collided with them, a Pokemon with the appearance of a Phoenix and considered such a rarity to be seen that many people dismissed the existence of the creature altogether and a Pokemon who just a mere fifteen minutes ago landed a powerful pillar of fiery violence on the helicopter who was trying to path the escape route of the two people he had battled last. The same two people who desired to take over every square mile of Orre with their dastardly plan. The same two people who were the highest members of the team he despised for as long as he wanted to think. The same two people who took on convincing disguises to trick the population of an entire city, who didn't care how many innocent people they hurt and destroyed and were the creators of a warped idea to control Pokemon by closing their hearts to the outside world, turning them from innocent, playful creatures without a care in the world to heartless robots with no mind of their own.

"How sweet, even Ho-Oh seems to be joining in the celebrations!" Rui practically screeched in Wes's right ear, jolting him from his train of thought and causing him to turn sharply around give a death glare to his travelling companion and partner-in-justice.

"I thought you would have realized by now that I absolutely detest it when i'm disturbed during times that i'm concentrating, Rui. We have been travelling and fighting for this victory for two months now and I honestly thought you would know me well enough by now..."

Rui wrinkled her face up at Wes and his little mini speech of slight frustration. She decided to retaliate with her own slightly longer train of words and hoped that it would drum some sense into the daydreaming male she had to put up with day in, day out for sixty-four groups of twenty-four.

"I don't understand you sometimes, you know. Yes, I know you're a former member of Team Snagem and that you don't like to talk about your time as a member of the bad side and yes, I also know that this entire stop the Shadow Pokemon and Cipher mission was more of a personal vengeance... but surely you should be happy at what has happened? Strangers just a short distance away are chanting your name and praising your very existence. Ignore the fact that I can detect when a creature has a closed heart of shadowy fury, you have saved Orre. Can't you at least smile?"

Wes was clearly taken aback by Rui's little outburst, partly because it wasn't like her to spout off speeches, she was always blunt and to the point and some certain people from Pyrite Town would back that up without a doubt... but mainly cause she was one hundred percent correct.

This entire mission was based on revenge that Wes desired. He joined Team Snagem after wrongly being promised by Gonzap that the plans the group were concocting were for the greater good, little knowing that the side he was on was for the malicious. Team Snagem were really helping out the criminal organisation Cipher by inventing the snag machine for them to use to help control their Shadow Pokemon. Eventually the young male realised this and set about righting everything that had been wronged. Taking the latest Snag Machine that had been constructed, Wes blew up the entire hideout, exposing Team Snagem to the media and setting off to the scenic and peaceful Phenac City on his motorbike, faithful companions and long time friends Espeon and Umbreon in the sidecar. It was in Phenac that he met Rui and after freeing her from her captives and learning of her ability to identify the auras of the demonic Pokemon, teamed up with her to defeat Cipher and being peace to Orre.

Day and weeks passed and the only thing that never strayed from Wes's mind was still that initial thought before leaving Team Snagem, revenge. Armed with his Snag Machine, Espeon and Umbreon to battle every Pokemon belonging to their opponents and Rui cheering from the sidelines when not pointing out when a Pokemon was indeed one with their heart closed by Cipher, Wes was determined to carry out his minds desire. Along the way the quartet gained the trust, friendship and more importantly the help of a certain selection of people who were also mindset in overthrowing the atrocious criminals. Nett and the rest of the Kids Grid provided valuable information to the whereabouts of any Cipher activity and of the Pokemon whose minds were poisoned while Duking promised to keep an eye on things also and even gave Wes some vital help when it was counted on. Vengeance came at a price though; thankfully this price was only paid in the terms of excessive travelling as Wes and Rui found themselves speeding over all stretches of Orre. It would have been Phenac City one day searching for a new lead and then it could have been Pyrite Town in a new dawn after receiving a call from Nett then in a third day it was back to the nature personified village of Agate, listening to the words of Eagun. This never bothered Wes, as long as it got him what he wanted then he was willing.

The mission took an overall total of sixty-four days but it was worth every last second as Wes had got what he ultimately wanted, for Cipher to be defeated in a humiliating fashion and for the Shadow Pokemon to have their hearts purified... so why wasn't he joining in with the celebrating crowds in the stands of the Colosseum? This question bothered him immensely. What he was currently feeling was like nothing he had felt before in all of his seventeen years of mortal existence. These clouded thoughts seemed to have first surfaced when together with Rui, Wes stormed the Realgam Tower in what was to be his final act of justice...

"WES? Hello, are you there?"

Head shook slightly and eyes blinked themselves back to reality as Wes snapped out of his latest little following of thoughts thanks to Rui waving her hands in front of his face and clicking her fingers like it was going to go out of fashion tomorrow. A light sigh escaped his lips as he folded his arms to look at the crowd of people, most of them now having made the decision to leave their seats in the stands and head onto the battle arena of the Colosseum to continue their seemingly endless celebration. Wes watched the scene intently for a few moments and then looked back up into the clear azure sky, where Ho-Oh was still displaying its own delight in delivering the final blow that stopped Cipher. He then turned back to face Rui, who was now somewhat lost in confusion at how Wes was acting. Another sigh emitted itself from Wes and he placed her hands on Rui's shoulders, looking into her eyes.

"I'm sorry... and you're right. This is exactly what I wanted and i'm moping around like a angst-driven prick. I think it's about time I actually showed how grateful I am that those bastards have been defeated, huh?"

"Yeah, I can't celebrate for two, you know!" Rui replied cheerfully, not noticing the slight shudder Wes gave at calling Cipher bastards. Wes nodded and reached for a pair of Pokeballs attached onto his belt. With a confident and deft flick he launched them both high into the air. Stars of shimmering white circled the pair of Pokeballs and after a few moments lights of lime green and the perfect sunshine yellow exploded from them. Upon this both a Pokemon of a pure lavender hue possessing a ruby coloured stone on its forehead and a Pokemon of a jet black hue possessing a set of gold rings on various areas of its body emerged, both letting out cries of happiness at being out again after battling such a short while ego. Wes let out a devious smile as he looked at Rui then nodded at Espeon and Umbreon.

"Well, you can't leave them out of the fun, can you?"

"Can't argue with that Wes, can't argue at all." Rui practically squealed, grabbing Wes's hands and dragging him into the ever growing crowd on the arena floor, Espeon and Umbreon having to dodge out of the way to save themselves from being trampled on.

The celebration continued into the night and it didn't seem to stop at Realgam Tower. The news quickly spread upon Wes's successful mission around Orre's entirety and people from all over the region dropped what they were doing and headed outside of their homes to celebrate. The residents of Phenac City leapt into the magnificent fountain that the city boasted, flinging water around and laughing without a care in the world. Those who lived in Pyrite Town got out the alcohol and got merry around Duel Square, except for Nett and the rest of the Kids Grid who downed many litres of lemonade and dished out the high fives for a job well done on their part. Up in the beautiful village of Agate walking sticks were waved in the air like they were trying to escape from the grips of their owners and many a shoulder was bopping to the side, especially from the wise Eagun, who nodded knowingly at his loyal wife Beluh and his equally faithful Pikachu.

Every person in Orre knew that they were free from the manipulative hands of the enemy and they knew exactly who to thank. With the help of his Pokemon who battled with a determined grit and of a young aura-reading female he now considered a very good friend, this was all down to Wes and everybody knew it, even if he did feel embarrassed at the new hero tag he now received.

As the celebration started to draw itself to a close, everyone who were still up in the mighty white pillar of Realgam Tower slowly made their descent down to the bottom, saying goodbyes to their new found friends and setting off to saviour the ever-present sunset and their new freedom. Wes and Rui were the last to depart from the arena at the top, Espeon and Umbreon still bounding around with relentless energy. The quartet got into the lift together and waited until the doors shut. As the lift made its downfall, Rui turned to Wes, who clearly seemed to be shattered. Partying like he did was completely out of his character and he made a mental vow never to do that again.

"Wes?"

"Yeah, Rui?"

"What was on your mind? You know, when you kept having periods of spacing out after just defeating the leader of Cipher himself."

Eyes of a shining amber turned to meet eyes of a hazelnut brown and Wes gave a small reassuring smile to Rui. "Oh, it was nothing... nothing at all. After all, it's all over now. Cipher is no more, I can enjoy freedom and the next time you and I meet up there won't be all this stress. Trust me, it's all good from my part."

Rui nodded, taking in all his words. She then cast her gaze to the outside of the towers transparent lift, enjoying the slightly blurry views there was on offer. Wes watched Rui for a few moments and then leant back on the lift, not moving when Espeon decided that his head would make a nice, comfortable seat... much to Umbreon's slight annoyance as he thought the exact same thing. Eyes of a victor closed and arms were folded, as if to block out everything around him... boy, he knew he was going to regret this party in the morning but it was for a good thing, he convinced himself.

Wes thought that his mission was complete and that he had nothing to worry about as far as encountering the faces of evil were concerned.

Little did he know that the chain of events was only just beginning...


	2. Chapter 1: Unravelling

**Authors Notes**: I know there are many procrastinators but surely I must be one of the worst on this planet!

So yeah... after over three months I finally get cracking on the next part of this fic, which I have had in my head for ages. Didn't take long to write actually as I had it planned and well, the words just flowed as I typed. Ell oh ell.

As usual, I hope you like this enough to leave a review and feel free to jab me with any constructive criticism you may have, especially if I have Wes or Rui out of character as it's been forever since playing Colosseum. One thing I am proud of though and that's the fact that Dash features in this chapter. Poor little guy, he runs around that fountain all the time in both Gamecube games and no one loves him for it.

Pee ess. This chapter is suitable for all, just mind the swearing fits throughout heh heh.

---

"Well going by what it says on what Nett gave you, this Shadow Pokemon will need to be in around seven more battles before we can finally take it to the forest to fully open its heart! So by going to Pyrite Town and tackling those on Duel Square... ooh I hope I don't see that horrible madam who thinks that I was your girlfriend because if I do..."

"Rui?"

"Yeah Wes?"

"Calm yourself down will you? I know you feel somewhat out of place because we now have all the Shadow Pokemon..." Wes muttered to his partner-in-justice, somewhat trailing off because he hated mentioning the words "Shadow Pokemon".

"Yeah, you're right." Rui sighed lightly, not knowing that by saying what she did she actually interrupted what Wes was about to say, not that it bothered him because it only made a little sense as he was complete and utter rubbish at cheering people up. "Oh by the way, can we stop off at Phenac City first? I need to get a few things from the shop. Nothing major, just bottled water and the like."

"If you want..." was Wes's reply to Rui's question, said in a distracted manner as he was actually trying to concentrate on properly steering his motorbike... not that Rui had noticed though.

"Cheers Wes, you're a real friend."

"No problem, no problem at all."

The sun had risen in the east and fallen in the west twenty one times since the day that ex-Team Snagem member Wes and his companion Rui had finally put a stop to the evil plans that were being conducted by the criminal organisation Cipher. Since that day it seemed to be a non-stop party for the residents that lived in the rugged and scarce region of Orre, celebrating not being tortured or watched by evil influences as if there was no tomorrow and often staying up till all hours of the night even three weeks on. As one resident who lived in the scenic and magnificently serene Phenac City said, people had been living in fear and terror for such a long time that they were going to celebrate for twice as long as Cipher casted an unwanted eye over Orre. While what the resident said didn't bother Rui in the slightest, it irked Wes immensely.

He never said this to Rui for she would give him the twenty questions treatment five times over, but Wes was hoping that after that massive party that was thrown in the gigantic Colosseum that was situated at the top of Realgam Tower people would settle down and carry on with their lives. Sadly for the outlandish rogue that was as far as it could have been, for if anything Wes and Rui were always going to be Orre's saviours for many years to come and while he didn't mind the attention to start with, it was now getting to Wes a lot. There was one time after around nine days since toppling Cipher that Wes was randomly requested to battle by a young female Chaser while in the somewhat unwelcoming town of Pyrite. No sooner had he accepted and released his pair of loyal Pokemon companions... the generally serious Sun Pokemon that was Espeon and the usually giddier Moonlight Pokemon that was Umbreon... that all of them including Rui were swamped. Pens and pieces of paper were shoved in the two human's faces and the two Pokemon were prodded and poked so much Espeon did wonder if they were in a laboratory being tested on. That was a memory that Wes was trying to forget... especially as other memories were really playing havoc with his mind since a certain time...

"Wes? What are you playing at? You've just driven past Phenac!"

"Oh fuck... sorry Rui, completely concentrating on the terrain." Wes replied to Rui's sudden little outburst, hoping that she would just let it slide. For what he just said was a half lie... Wes was concentrating, but not on the dirt and earth. The concentration was on something... or rather, somebody else entirely... but once again he would have to put those thoughts to the back of his mind.

Making sure that the Pokeballs attached to the belt under his lengthy navy blue coat were secure, Wes parked up the motorbike and after helping Rui out led the way into Phenac City. However after the pair of humans took a few steps into the city they were recognised by a small group of children, who dashed over to the pair like they had a little pair of wings attached to each of their ankles.

"Oh cool!" squealed one of the children in delight, clapping her hands as if it was a permanent habit. "It's the heroes of Orre! Wes and Rui, yay!"

"Wes and Rui, yay!" repeated the rest of the childish gaggle.

"Aww, aren't you all cute?" Rui exclaimed happily, ignoring the fact that Wes had rolled his eyes on the entire thing and was staring in a different direction to the group of children. "We cannot stay and talk i'm afraid... i'm just here to do some shopping and then we are off to Pyrite!"

"Oooooo, Pyrite Town!" the children repeated in glee.

"Give me strength..." Wes muttered to himself.

"So whatcha gonna do in Pyrite?" a young boy of the group asked, big brown eyes looking into Rui's own eyes of hazel.

"Ah..." Rui stuttered somewhat as she didn't want to tell the children what Wes and herself were actually going to do, for the fear of scaring them and making them worry over nothing. "It's nothing that great, trust me."

"I get it!" the girl with the clapping habit questioned with a slight teasing hint to her voice. "You are going to book into a hotel with your boyfriend..."

"NO." Wes said coldly and flatly, pointing an accusing finger at the young girl, amber eyes staring so harshly into the child's own light blue that if looks could kill she would have been burnt to a crisp by now. "If you bloody well must know we are going to Pyrite to finish purifying a Shadow Togetic that I snagged last week, alright? Also drum this into your silly little head... Rui is NOT my girlfriend and NEVER will be."

"Oh... okay..." the little girl replied quietly, eyes starting to get clouded with tears. After a few seconds one started to make a trail down her face and eventually the young girl ran off, sobbing so loudly that it was enough to wake the dead. The rest of the group followed their friend, looks of bemusement and concern on their faces. When the gaggle of children were fully out of sight Rui gave a small shove with her right hand to Wes, who sharply turned around at the action to face his friend.

"Now why did you go and do that? She is only a child Wes... she probably meant nothing by it."

"You told me yourself that you hate it when people assume that I am your boyfriend..."

"Well... yes... but..."

"But nothing!" Wes cut off what Rui was about to say in a harsh manner as he turned away from his partner-in-justice and headed towards the shop that Rui was planning to purchase from. "Now can you just get what you need to get so we can piss off?"

While Rui was looking through the many shelves littered with merchandise in the shop, Wes opted to stay outside, leaning against the building with his arms folded and his shades down over his eyes to not only keep out the sun but to not be able to look at anybody else. There were two reasons as to why Wes had chosen to stay out in the bright sunshine and gentle breeze. One, Wes hated shopping for anything else other than medicines and the like needed for his faithful pair of Eeveelutions. Two, he was still very much annoyed with what the young female implied a few minutes ago... that Wes and Rui were dating.

He should have been used to it by now. Ever since first rescuing her from being kidnapped by a pair of Cipher peons and letting her accompany him once learning of her ability to identify the Shadow Pokemon, Rui was often known as Wes's girlfriend to a lot of people all over the region. Every time that it occurred he flatly denied it but it seemed to make it worse in a way. It did help that Rui didn't feel any romantic attraction towards Wes and also got somewhat annoyed whenever she gets labelled as being his lover but in a way it didn't help with his current state of mind.

Girlfriends were something that Wes had never bothered with throughout the entire seventeen years that he had currently excited on the planet. It wasn't that he didn't have the time... when he was a child he was often playing out in the sunshine and when he was a member of the now diminished Team Snagem there were a lot of occurrences that the members often had a few full days free on their hands. It wasn't even that girls were not attracted to him... if anything they found him one of the hottest guys they had even seen and fawned over him like he was a God, something which annoys him especially now he is seen as some sort of local celebrity. Nope... the reason why Wes never bothered with girlfriends was that he had never been attracted to a girl in the first place.

This was something that didn't bother him as a child as he knew that there would be many more years to come but once he reached thirteen and didn't even bat an eyelid when a girl practically tackled him to the ground to declare her attraction towards him then Wes started to wonder. This wondering was something he had kept to himself since that day and now after a certain event that happened while stopping Cipher he wasn't sure if he could keep it to himself for much longer. He did want to act on it in a way, but with people still calling his name, labelling him a hero, running up to him and pestering him for autographs he had to shut up and bear it until things calmed down at least a little...

"That building can hold itself up, you know."

Wes snapped out of his current daydream and looked to see who the voice belonged to. In a few seconds he found that it was Dash who called him from Phenac City's glorious fountain. Normally Dash would run around the very same fountain constantly day in day out with his Pokemon friend Castform following him but he seemed to be occupied with something else... the roguish former member of Team Snagem who seemed to develop a new hobby in daydreaming.

"Bugger off Dash and just continue to run around that precious fountain of yours..." Wes finally spoke to the athlete, who simply scoffed at Wes's comment and folded his arms, letting off a slightly evil smirk.

"Not until you give me a cent for your thoughts, hero." Dash retorted, playing on the word hero as a light hearted attempt to wind Wes up. It worked to a charm as Wes finally moved from his leaning position against the shop that Rui was in and walked calmly over to Dash, standing with his left arm on his lip and his amber eyes fixed firmly on the eyes of the runner, who didn't seem fazed one bit.

"You are not the sort of person I would tell my secrets to and if you and I were the last people alive and I had to spill to survive then at least I can say that I have had a good life."

"My my... the hero is getting a bit touchy." Dash sighed playfully before matching Wes's glare and speaking in a sharper, nastier tone. "But you do like to spill the secrets or at least one of them... you told my little sister about how you are trying to purify that bleeding Togetic before you snapped at her."

"Who the fuck is your little sister?" Wes queried, but in the same instance that he asked the question he instantly thought of the young girl who liked to clap along to every word spoken... and who teased Rui about getting a hotel room for the two to bang each other senseless in. "Oh... her."

"She is heartbroken, crying her eyes out. I demand that you come over to our house and apologize!" Dash cried out, unaware that a small gathering of people had started to form close to the fountain. Wes had noticed this however and was starting to feel rather uncomfortable from this new attention, mainly because his level of patience was starting to wear exceedingly thin with Dash...

"No."

"Wrong answer, hero."

"It's the right answer for me." Wes scowled, placing his shades back on top of his head.

"Why? Because she implied that you two were going to Pyrite to book into a hotel? Oh quit the act Wes, everyone knows that you are Rui are dating!" Dash quipped with sweet sarcasm.

Wes wanted to punch the guy's lights out for saying such an untrue thing, but Wes was worried that he would then gain a bad reputation for doing so... and after spending so long trying to get rid of that from his Team Snagem days it was something he didn't want to gain a second time, even if the excessive praise was something he wanted to die down. He clenched his fists and prayed that Dash would soon walk away so he could deal with him one on one, especially as the crowd around the fountain was nearing thirty strong... but there was no such luck.

"Where is your girlfriend anyway?" the athlete asked in a very teasing manner, looking over first Wes's left shoulder and then his right before repeating the process. "Is she off to buy something for your next date..." and that was all Dash managed to say before Wes's temper finally got the better of him. Hoisting Dash off the ground with his hands Wes hovered the now panic stricken Dash over the waters of the fountain and snarled. The crowd had also gasped with shock but Wes was now very much past caring... in fact, all these people around made it perfect for what he was going to say.

"You listen to me you fucker and you fucking listen good. Rui is not my girlfriend and she never will be. You know why... because I fucking well am not attracted to her. In fact, I have never fancied a girl in my life! So stop with all this fucking crap about us dating because after three months of constant fucking bullshit I am FUCKED OFF WITH IT."

The next thing that was heard was an almighty splash of water as Wes had let go of Dash which meant that the usually composed runner had only one way to go... into the waters of the fountain. Dash didn't bother getting up after he had regained his composure... he was actually rather frightened of moving away from the glaring, furious rogue that was in front of him. The crowd had shrieked in unison at Wes's action, a shriek that prompted Rui to come from inside the shop to question what was going on. Of course, when she saw that Wes was giving the death stare to a very soaked and embarrassed Dash, who was still in the fountain waters, she quickly put two and two together... and made five.

"Wes! Can you stop picking on random people for a kick? I know you hate going shopping..."

"Shopping? SHOPPING?" Wes snapped back, sharply turning to face Rui. "You think that I flung this twat in the fountain because I didn't want to come shopping with you in there? Ha... you are wrong. You are so very. Fucking. Wrong."

"Okay Wes, you are scaring me a little... please calm down a little..."

"No... because you are just as clueless as the rest of them. Now leave me the fuck alone."

As soon as that was said Wes quickly turned on his heels and stormed off into the direction of his motorbike that he left outside Phenac City, not caring one little bit about the bewildered faces the watching crowd were giving their saviour. Rui followed him but she wasn't quick enough... before she could get him to stop and relax Wes had revved up his motorbike and roared into the distance, leaving a large cloud of dust in his wake which Rui ended up coughing over.

"Dammit Wes, come back! We still need to purify that Togetic!"

When she finally stopped coughing from the dust Rui let out a downheartened sigh and cursed herself mentally... she knew Wes seemed a bit out of it lately and hated herself for having a go at him over something so trivial that turned out to be wrong. She turned around to see who else in Phenac was still watching the commotion and the only one doing so was Dash, who was now standing by her, wringing out his sopping shirt. The rest of the watchers had now gone about their merry way to question why Wes did what he did... and unbeknown to Rui, said what he said.

"What is that guy's problem?" Dash asked Rui after a few short moments. "You would think he'd enjoy having the world at his feet after stopping Cipher!"

"That's the trouble..." Rui replied gently, putting a hand on Dash's shoulder. "He has never really been himself since beating that group... but unfortunately I have no idea why..."


	3. Chapter 2: Admittance

**Authors Notes**: I wasn't going to write this chapter until after I completed a few more of my many started works on Microsoft Word, but the other day I got such a massive ego boost. This fic was added to the favourites list and story alter list of one person and this same person also added moi to her favourite authors list... so yeah, I was inspired to update Contemplation.

Beautyheart18, if you are reading this... thank you. I often diss my work for it being too descriptive and poetic at times but knowing that other people like it... apart from my friends and my girlfriend... is always bloody great to know.

I enjoyed writing this chapter. I am not going to give too much away but let us say that the ball is finally starting to roll. Hopefully that didn't plant a few ideas into your minds but if it did then OH WELL.

Flamers can go and put themselves out with water unless it's constructive criticism, all reviews are welcomed with open arms and all that usual stuff that I spout goes here. The rating for this chapter is the same as the others... nothing special, but mind the few swear words as Wes is such a little angst-bucket.

---

There was something about the hours of the day that was shrouded in darkness, the hours of the day that are technically referred to as night. It was like night had some kind of hold, a unique bond over everything.

It is generally found that when the magnificent sun starts to slowly descend and turn the colour of the sky from an elegant light blue to a clementine orange and then to a robust, near fluorescent pink before finally making it its final colour; a deep and rich navy blue that nearly resembled a midnight black most of the time, then everything and everyone that is in the presence of the night generally feel more calmer and happier. People forget about the stress that the course of the day seemed to grace them with and head back home to either spend time with their loved ones, get their glad rags on and dance the night away or to just plainly relax. The creatures that co-exist with humans, the elemental creatures known collectively as Pokemon, also seem to generally feel a lot better with themselves; ones that belong to a trainer find themselves not battling as much and those who roam the wild are settling down to get a good nights rest. Even the countryside seems to benefit from night's elegant beauty, as leaves on trees and flowers sway gently in the breeze that accompanies the dark and everything in general appears calmer and quieter.

Tonight however was not the case in terms of the wilderness being serene and still, as the gentle whistles of the breeze were being heavily drowned out by the roar of a motorbike.

Wes, the seventeen year old former member of the criminal minded Team Snagem and now everyone's saviour and hero, had been driving constantly around the scarce terrain of the rugged region known as Orre for the last seven hours. He had no idea of the exact time but that was the last thing on his mind as he was still fuming about the palaver that happened in Phenac City earlier in the day.

He was angry at that small group of children, especially that young girl who seemed to be their ringleader, implying that he and his best friend Rui were in Phenac to book into a hotel for a night of passion. He was infuriated at the city's resident athlete, Dash, demanding that he should apologize to the ringleader... Dash's own kid sister... for snapping at something that proved to be complete rubbish and then going on about the same thing that said kid sister was quipping. Most of all though Wes was absolutely seething at Rui, his closest companion of the last three months... how dare she just barge over and think that Wes was angry over the fact that she wanted to go shopping?

Although to be fair to Rui, she was very much clueless as to what exactly was troubling Wes... and even though he wasn't happy with her, the rogue knew that it was partly his fault. If only he could have been honest to her from the start...

But where exactly was the start?

Thoughts and thinkings were going through Wes's mind in a very incoherent fashion as he wondered where would be the best place to finally stop driving around Orre's entirety like a deranged stalker and to try and solve this as best as he could. The ideal situation would have been for Wes to go back to Phenac, see if Rui was still there and if she was, tell her what he knew for definite and see where things would go... but he didn't want that to happen just yet. He needed to be certain about each and every single thing and even though the first part of that plan in finding Rui again still would have sufficed as the just turned sixteen year old female would now be very worried about where her friend had got to, Wes didn't feel like facing her just yet. He still bared some form of anger towards her and would have hated himself afterwards if he told her to fuck off a second time in the space of seven hours.

The revving of the motorbike was still the only sound being echoed along the near crimson coloured grounds and valleys of Orre as Wes finally got a coherent thought into his mind. It was a bit of a long shot but he knew one thing. The reason why he was acting such a bastard to the people of Orre was because of someone... a someone that he couldn't get out of his head, much as he sometimes tried... and there was just the one place that they met properly.

With it being a former base of operations for villainous minds and now it being used as a place where people of all ages can battle, trade and play games in perfect harmony Wes knew that he had to go there. He may not see that person he was so constantly thinking of, but at least Wes knew that if he paid a visit to the place that he last visited three weeks ago... a place where on top of the tallest tower in the region there stood a huge colosseum... he would least get peace of mind and could face Rui the next day a lot calmer. So with that now decided, Wes sharply turned his motorbike around and headed in the direction that would lead him to Realgam Tower.

It took around about ten minutes for Wes to finally see Realgam Tower in the distance of his vision. Part of him wanted to do this for that one little glimmer of hope but the other part knew that this was indeed going to be a long shot and that all he would get is a calmer state of mind. Eventually he was at the forecourt of the mighty tower and after checking his motorbike and the Pokeballs around his belt, got off his mode of transport and started to walk across the forecourt.

Once again night's effect was in play as everything was so much quieter than it usually is in the sunlight. The benches randomly dotted around the edge of the forecourt was filled with silence instead of trainers, the greenery swayed in content motion and the fountain situated in the center of the whole court was shooting its sprays of water to nobody but Wes... which suited him. After all he was getting fed up of the attention he was receiving since taking Cipher down...

"Oh my gosh! Look Anya, it's Wes, the hero of Orre!"

"Why yes Sara, you're right! Let's get his autograph!"

Wes let out a groan of disappointment that was so loud he wondered if the two girls, Sara and Anya, were partially deaf as the two friends skipped merrily up towards Orre's seemingly eternal hero. Grudgingly as he really wanted to be on his own he signed two sheets of paper for the two screaming and fangirling teenagers before Sara gleefully kissed Wes on the cheek. As both Sara and Anya walked joyfully away... and with Anya now highly jealous of Sara's daring action... Wes waited until both girls were out of sight before harshly rubbing both of his cheeks with his hands.

"Dammit that was the most awful thing ever..." the rogue muttered in repulse. "Can't all girls be like Rui and keep their fucking hormones in check?"

With a light sigh Wes turned to face the fountain to take in some of its elegance before lifting up his coat to get three of four spherical objects known as Pokeballs from off his belt. Two of them were launched with relative, confident ease and the lights swirled around in a beautiful fashion before the Pokemon inside their confinements were subjected to the outside world; the Sun Pokemon named Espeon and the Moonlight Pokemon named Umbreon.

"Umbre um?" the midnight black Pokemon queried before realising that his trainers head was free to be sat on.

"Espe espeon!" the lavender purple Pokemon replied to his Pokepartner, in a harsh tone as Umbreon bounded up and sat victoriously on Wes's head. Wes sighed again... this was typical insane, childlike Umbreon and typical strict, headstrong Espeon.

"Umbre um bre-bre-bre-BREEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Espe esp esp esp espeon esp!"

"Bree?"

"Guys, knock it off..." Wes finally spoke to his long term Pokemon companions, interrupting what appeared to sound like another of their silly little arguments. "I need you both to do me a favour. Can you two quickly scan around the entire area to make sure that no-one is about? Don't question why." the saviour of Orre finished sharply.

"Breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee." Umbreon replied lazily as he was very content to remain on his trainers head for however long he was going to be out of his Pokeball.

"ESPEON!" the Sun Pokemon barked starkly at the Moonlight Pokemon before nodding to Wes and bounding off, going in a westerly direction.

"Umbreon... umbre." was the grudging remark from Umbreon, leaping off Wes's head in a cat-like fashion before going off into the east, leaving Wes to take a seat by the fountain to wait for his faithful elemental creatures to come back.

While waiting for both Espeon and Umbreon to return from their little lookout mission, Wes rummaged in one of the pockets of his black near-bondage style trousers to fish out the two items that he had kept in there without Rui's knowing since the day that both humans finished the criminal organisation Cipher. He yanked the pair of objects out sharply and started nonchalantly fiddling with them. One of the items was a previously opened bottle of a massage oil known as a Vivid Potion that he purchased one day from the nature-esque and peaceful Agate Village when looking for Rui, who had gotten lost when wondering around. The second was a small rectangular swipe card, sunshine yellow in colour. Wes had kept it in his pocket since that day of victory three weeks ago as a reminder of who it belonged to formerly... who he hoped to see.

Wes was spinning the card around carefully between his fingers, remembering fondly of the time that he got the item before clutching it and putting it close to his heart. He mentally made a wish that he hoped to see who he wanted to tonight, despite how difficult it could be. He knew the chances were little but there was nothing wrong with hoping so strongly, surely?

A few minutes after making that wish Wes's pair of loyal and trustworthy Pokemon both came bounding back to him excitedly. Umbreon was ready to bound back on his trainers head but stopped as he knew that the expression on his face was telling a different story to Umbreon's tale of happiness and excitement.

"Well?" Wes asked simply to the two Pokemon.

"Espeon esp espe eon espe espeon!" Espeon proclaimed proudly, forgetting that Wes has never been able to breakthrough the language barrier that separates human from Pokemon. It wasn't until Umbreon started shaking his head stupidly that Wes finally understood what Espeon meant.

"So there is definitely no one about? Good..." Wes trailed off, noting that Espeon was giving the death glare to Umbreon for wrecking his announcement. "Look, i'm going to be a while so as long as you stay around this area then you can have some freedom... again, no questioning why."

"Umbree?" Umbreon questioned anyway despite knowing exactly why, earning a half playful half on purpose whack from Espeon. Umbreon yelped in surprise before pouncing on Espeon, nibbling on one of the Sun Pokemon's ears. It was Espeon's turn to then give out a startled wail and in seconds the lavender purple Pokemon was free from the Moonlight Pokemon's grasp and chased Umbreon around the fountain and then into the near distance, leaving Wes on his own again.

Giving a quick glance to definitely make sure that there was no other human in sight, Wes pressed a button on the third Pokeball to enlarge it. He was just about to fling the Pokeball to release the creature inside when...

"A cent for your thoughts, hero?"

Wes let out another discontent moan before sharply turning around to face the person who had just spoken. He knew who the voice belonged to but he had to just check it... and when he saw that he was right he let out another sigh and muttered sharply.

"Bugger off Dash."

"Why? So you can fling me in this fountain as well? Oh bring it on then; getting soaked by temperamental teenagers is always a highlight for me."

Wes chose to ignore not only Dash's attempt at dripping sarcasm but the increasing urge to clout the boy in the mouth and rolled his eyes. He knew what the athlete was here for and the sooner it was brought up the sooner he could go away...

"You came to find me for Rui, didn't you?"

Dash clapped in a slow sarcastic manner before stating his reply. "Yes, yes I am. She's back at my place worried sick about you. She would have found you herself but as you know the girl can't drive."

"So how come you knew that you would find me here?" Wes asked matter-of-factly, although he knew what Dash would say as his answer.

"Rui mentioned about you not being yourself since beating Cipher here and figured you'd come here to try and find some sort of solace."

Bang on target.

Wes wondered what he could say or do to try and divert Dash from knowing the truth... he knew that one day everyone would know anyway and that Dash felt Wes's verbal wrath about him never fancying a girl in his life earlier... but this? No, he wanted Rui to be the first person to know, not a boy who gets a kick from running around the same fountain daily. By this time Espeon and Umbreon had wandered over to their trainer and sat near to him to observe the conversation, although Wes didn't notice. He was too busy trying to think of something to say, a small flush of scarlet slowly appearing on his cheeks.

Dash didn't twig onto Wes's slight blushing, but he did notice the three items that were gripped in the rogue's hand... and to break the awkward silence between the two males he decided to comment on it.

"So what's in your hand?"

"These?" Wes snapped back to reality, blush disappearing quicker that it appeared. "Oh... nothing major, really."

The athlete was undeterred. "That bottle there... that's a Vivid Potion from Agate. Planning to use it on that Shadow Togetic or something?"

Wes, thankful that he thought that the Pokemon in the Pokeball was the Togetic that was actually still clipped to his belt, nodded in reply to Dash's question. However Umbreon, who unbeknown to Wes was sitting a short distance away from him, shook his head instead. Dash picked up on this and smiled before speaking with confidence.

"So who is telling the truth here? You or that Umbreon of yours?"

"Huh... Umbreon?" Wes replied slightly confused before turning around and seeing his pair of Pokemon, Espeon glaring at Umbreon who was still shaking his head in a silly, childish manner. "Umbreon! Will you stop acting stupid for once?" he snapped at his Pokemon.

"UMBRE!" the Moonlight Pokemon barked back, slightly annoyed that his trainer was lying to another person and then having the blame pinned on him... so as revenge instead of leaping over to Wes to use his head as a comfy seat, Umbreon leapt over to his side and with a steely whack of his tail knocked the Pokeball out of Wes's hand.

"Dammit Umbreon, no!" Wes hollered, but it was too late as the Pokeball started to be encircled with dazzling white and green lights to release the creature inside. All the rogue could do was watch helplessly as Dash watched the scenes with content and Espeon decided to chase Umbreon around as punishment for getting their trainer into a mess.

In a matter of seconds the Pokemon inside was let out into the outside world and Wes felt the palm of his hand connect to his forehead as he wondered how he could get out of this situation. Dash meanwhile was staring at the newly released Pokemon in amazement. With a body mainly coloured an electric yellow save for a snow white chest and a few black triangular stripes on its sides and the tops of its legs, a large pair of fangs and what appeared to be a purple thundercloud shape on its back, Dash knew exactly who this Pokemon was... and when it let out a roar that sounded like lightning crashing to the ground, he turned to face Wes, who was now slightly flushed for the second time in five minutes.

"You have Raikou? Since when?"

"Since I snagged it three weeks ago. I was going to massage it with a Vivid Potion here tonight just in case he..."

"He?"

"Er..." Wes slapped the palm of his other hand with his forehead. He was now backed into a corner and the only way he could get out of this was to tell the truth to Dash. This wasn't ideal as he wanted Rui to be the first to know... but surely only telling half of the story would be fine as long as it was the honest truth, right?

"I snagged Raikou here in Realgam Tower, as part of the final assault to beating Cipher. The guy who owned Raikou when it had its heart closed and I battled and obviously I was victorious and the Pokemon was snagged, as you can see. However it wasn't as simple as that... the person who I was battling against was a brilliant tactician and I had to use a lot of potions on Espeon and Umbreon. Not only that, but I felt something connect between us. Not sure if it was picked up on his part but I certainly felt it." Wes made sure Dash was still listening before continuing.

"After Rui and I won at the top of the tower I would spend every night after saying goodbye to her training Raikou in secret after purifying him at the forest. Its level is now the same as Espeon and Umbreon's levels and it has always been on my team since that day, because it used to belong to him and well, it being on my team makes me feel closer to him, even though I haven't seen him since that day."

Stopping to get his breath back as he was never one to spout off what was on his mind often, Wes walked over to Raikou and patted the Thunder Pokemon gently on its shoulder. He then finished what he was going to say.

"This is the third time I have come back to Realgam Tower, you know... again, without Rui knowing. Every time I let Raikou out and I massage him with some of the Vivid Potion with the hope that I will see him here again, the only place that we properly met. I don't know where he is now... I guess he is still struggling with what Cipher did to everyone... but I have questions that I want to ask him, because i'll be blunt, I can't get him out of my head and I don't want to either. Hell, I even kept the yellow card he dropped on the floor when trying to get out of the place..."

Wes trailed off, finishing his speech and staring into the star littered sky. Espeon and Umbreon, both tired from chasing each other around, had wandered back to their trainer a second time to observe the scene. Dash was also observing the scene... and was smiling. He hated Wes for picking on his little sister but for him to be so honest to him when he really didn't need to be was something he found flattering. Knowing that Wes wasn't going to speak next the athlete took it as his job to do so.

"So going by what you said just now and what you said before dumping me in Phenac's fountain... are you, in a roundabout sense, trying to say that you are gay and are crushing on this guy, whoever he is?"

"Yes." Wes answered simply, directing his gaze at Dash, amber eyes meeting brilliant blue. "I mean, I think it's a crush anyway... I have never been in a relationship and i've never felt this way about anyone before. I guess I want to find him and tell him what I feel..."

"To see if it confirms for you that it is a crush you definitely have." Dash finished for Wes before asking another question. "Does Rui know about this?"

"No, but she'll know soon as it bothers me knowing that she is clueless and doesn't know why I am acting like a bastard. I'd rather you didn't tell her until then either."

"Yeah, no problem... not really my place to say." Dash agreed, not knowing that when Wes would eventually explain everything to Rui she would know exactly who Wes had some feelings for. "I'm straight myself, but I know of a couple of friends who are gay and although there is always questions about homosexuality, telling the world was the best and happiest thing they did. The sooner you jump on that bandwagon the better."

Wes nodded and Dash walked over to the rogue, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"You know, i'm sorry for starting an argument with you Wes. Had I known..."

"But you didn't and for that i'm sorry for flaring up at you. Now you know exactly why I get so fucked off when people assume that Rui is my girlfriend."

This time it was Dash's turn to nod and after a few moments of silence the athlete started to walk away to find his motorcycle so he can head back to Phenac, knowing that Wes would rather be on his own for the night to gather his bearings from the whole palaver of today. However there was one question left to ask and so Dash turned around to face Wes a final time, the rogue still standing by Raikou, who was wondering what the Hell was going on. Gay? Sexuality? Not a couple of brands of Pokechow, that's for sure.

"So what excuse shall I give Rui to palm you off till the morning?"

"Tell her that I am still a bit annoyed at her and would rather be on my own until i'm calmer. After all it is the truth... but not the whole truth."

Dash let out a hearty chuckle and after a mutual exchange of nods the resident of Phenac City walked off to find his mode of transport. Wes waited until he was fully out of sight before opening up the bottle of Vivid Potion.

"Now then, where were we?"

Ten minutes later and Raikou was fully massaged with the potion... it may have had its heart open for over a couple of weeks now but it still enjoyed that blissful feeling of having that oil rubbed into its skin. Wes then closed the bottle up and after putting that and the yellow card back into his pocket, put Raikou and the now sleeping Espeon and Umbreon back into their Pokeballs. He then sat motionless for a few minutes before getting up. Looks like he was not going to see him tonight either...

"A cent for your thoughts, hero?"

Wes blinked. Normally hearing the same question for the third time in a day would have been enough for have him to have told the person who said it to shut the fuck up, but the voice that just asked the question for the third time was not Dash. He was on his way back to Phenac and this new voice sounded somewhat familiar.

Could it be?

In one short sharp motion Wes got up from the forecourt and turned to face who it was who spoke to him... and gasped. That same white laboratory coat that fitted him like a glove, that same cool and calculating smile, that same jet back hair all sleeked back except for one thick strand that flicked over to the front in a zigzag fashion and those same blue eyes that looked as cold as ice... there was no mistaking it.

It was who Wes had been hoping to see for three weeks. Three weeks of wondering and wishing and waiting and there he was, standing in front of him.

"Ein?"

"You better believe it."


	4. Chapter 3: Conversation

**Authors Notes**: The longest chapter to date but what can I say? This was how I wanted it to work and I think it has worked better than I thought.

I'm very happy with how this fic is turning out so far. I still am a little unsure as to how many chapters the finished product will end up being but so far this little baby is going how I want it to flow. Current thinking has me maybe doing twenty-one chapters, it could be more, it could be less... yet I hope you lot stay for the ride!

Thanks for all the reviews, faves and alerts I have recieved up until now; I will say with pride that Contemplation is now my most popular fic and hey, it's all good as this is my Pokemon yaoi OTP!

I would like to dedicate this chapter to one of my best friends stroke my "little sister" Kelly, as tonight we engaged in a very deep and interesting conversation just like what you are about to read... well in terms of the deepness anyway. The actual convo was different to this chapter, obviously.

---

Eyes of a brilliant, near crystalline amber blinked in a rapid succession before they were rubbed with the backs of a pair of hands that were encased in a thick navy material. These very same eyes found themselves blinking and being rubbed a few more times as the young male behind the actions was finding it a struggle to cope with the reality with what had just happened. Part of this male's mind was thinking that it was all just a big dream and in a matter of seconds he would find himself being snapped back to the real world... yet eventually that thought was dismissed, the eyes stopped opening and shutting like a young child dementedly playing with a window blind and the hands fell back to the sides of the male.

There he was; Wes the former member of Team Snagem... at the forecourt of the mighty and entertaining Realgam Tower, standing in front of the man he had developed an attraction towards, the ever calm, collected and calculating assumed former member of the atrocious criminal syndicate Cipher, Ein.

The rogue could feel his breathing pattern going slightly irregular as he hoped that it would be the other male who would be the one to speak first to break the ever looming silence, yet nothing was happening. The only action that was occurring was a slight hint of a smile appearing on the face of Ein, as if he was somewhat revelling in the soundless eternity that usually graced when day transformed into night. However Wes was not enjoying this period of quiet. Not even the slightest sound of a breeze could be heard in the distance and he found himself getting more and more uncomfortable with this whole scenario. Why wasn't Ein speaking? He would have said something himself, but Wes could feel that his throat was suddenly feeling sore... it was like his vocal cords had sung their last song and it was an extremely poor effort that was badly struggling to get into the top 500.

In an attempt to finally get a conversation going, Wes hurriedly rummaged in one of the pockets attached to his black near-bondage style trousers to fish out an item that he had kept loyally in there since the day he located it. With a sharp tug and it was out for both Wes and the still half-smiling yet not speaking Ein to notice... a small rectangular card, coloured a glorious sunshine yellow save for one solid black strip used for identification purposes. Wes twirled it with two of his fingers and hoped that something would soon happen as his voice box was still struggling to perform that awful top 500 effort... thankfully for the seventeen year old the silence of night was finally broken.

"I may not be top when it comes to fashion, but can I give you a small snippet of advice?" Ein questioned, his voice echoing into the night like a lilting melody.

"Er... if you want, I guess." Wes slowly stated in reply, very much thankful that his vocal chords finally regained themselves and were now back to producing top ten chart successes. "Fire away."

A nod from the older man then occurred before Ein used his hands to make sweeping motions under his eyes from where his nose was to the end of his face. "Ditch the red stripe, just having the white one going across your face is much better and colour coordinates more with your outfit."

"Say what? Ah... fuck!" the younger male hollered in shock, quickly covering his cheeks with his hands. He had no idea that he was starting to go scarlet again for the third time in the same night and for Ein of all people to notice the colour change of his skin only made Wes go a deeper red, which thankfully went unnoticed thanks to his hands covering it up. "You shouldn't have noticed this for fucks sake!" Wes then spoke with a slight hint of sharpness to his voice, hands still over the ever increasing in colour cheeks.

"Forgive me if that's not how you were brought up, but when I was younger I was told to always engage in face to face conversations..." Ein mused light-heartedly, adopting that ever familiar thinking pose that he often used when during a battle. "I mean, do you want me to stare at your groin instead?"

He didn't know what was more embarrassing at that point... the fact that he was already red from just merely staring at him or the fact that the other man just came out with that comment without a care in the world... but Wes was clearly now flushed a bright crimson from Ein's statement and had to turn his back to him to try and regain some composure. He was feeling like a prize idiot but at the same time wondered if this was what being attracted to someone could do to you... make you act like a child who had just gotten his or her first Pokemon constantly, make you act so giddy, so immature, so clumsy... so happy.

Ein meanwhile was rather enjoying this whole scenario, smirking as if he had just captured another ever illusive legendary elemental creature. He had only been here for around a quarter of an hour and yet he somehow managed to reduce a usually steely and determined young man into developing a beetroot coloured face and make him gibber like an emotional wreck after only saying two slightly sarcastic comments. He smiled at that, waiting for Wes to turn around... but it wasn't a smile of revenge, nothing of the sort. Ein knew that emotions had a habit of playing havoc with you even when you were seen as the most courageous, most confident, most headstrong of people... it was something that he was going through himself.

A few minutes of a somewhat grim silence passed before Wes turned around sharply on his heel, pointing at Ein with not a trace of red on his face anymore.

"Let's face it, you have fucking been here the whole time and know the whole fucking story."

"On the contrary, I have only..."

"Yeah yeah, I fucking don't believe you."

"Stop swearing and calm down a little will you, unless you want me to go. I mean, just say the word and i'll disappear as quickly as I came..."

Wes rubbed the temples of his head with his fingers and sighed. This was not going well at all, it was like he didn't want Ein to be here when it was very much the opposite... but then the rogue was never one at dealing with his emotions properly, not emotions like what he was currently feeling anyway. He let out another sigh and met Ein's gaze, amber eyes meeting cold, near ice blue.

"No, I don't want you to go. It's just that I do not like being toyed with by anybody and we both know that you have been here the whole time and heard..."

Ein shook his head sharply, which stopped Wes from speaking. He then shrugged and put his hands in the pockets of his long white laboratory coat.

"If you were to let me finish what I was going to say before mouthing off like a trash can then you would know that that was not the case. Unless you mean that by me being here the whole time you mean from when you massaged my former Pokemon and then putting it away before kneeling on the floor for ages."

Normally Wes would have said something about this being another lie, but something else compelled him to ask Ein a different question entirely.

"You are telling the truth, aren't you?"

"Definitely. What's the point in lying to you anymore, i'm not a part of Cipher as the whole group has disbanded... so that doesn't make you and I enemies as far as i'm concerned."

There was something in the way that Ein said that mini statement that instantly made Wes believe him... although given his current haywire feelings he would have possibly believed him if he said that he actually was here the entire time and heard the whole conversation between Wes himself and Dash. The younger male revelled in the fact that Ein said that the two were not at loggerheads anymore before speaking again, trying not to sound horribly eager although with his emotions currently dancing an extremely fast tango what he was about to say could have sounded like he found out that somebody had died.

"Okay, we're both standing here having a bit of a weird conversation when it seems like we both have questions that we want to ask each other... so how about we grab a seat and let it all fly?"

"I like the sound of that, but are you sure that you can cope with a meaningful conversation? I got the impression during our battle that you preferred to be blunt."

"Well you might be surprised at what I can come up with..." Wes light-heartedly spoke, trying not to sound the least bit sarcastic. "There's a bench over there, let's sit."

"So if that wasn't to the point then what is?"

The thought to reply that his own comment was rather sudden and short was tempting, but Wes thought it better to bite his tongue and instead motioned for Ein to follow him so they could sit down and talk. Imagination was running amok in the mind of the rogue as they finally sat down on the bench and it dawned on Wes that he was sitting next to the man he was harbouring a three week long crush on... and he had no idea how to start going about what said imagination was telling him.

Part of his mind wanted him to just jump on the now confirmed former admin of Cipher and savour the taste of his mouth, but the thought that he actually had no idea how to kiss anybody held him back. Another part of him wanted to just run away out of fear of having to talk about something that he never really had spoken about before but that was really out of the question. The third part however seemed to be the most sensible... to just be frank, tell the entire truth and see what happens afterwards. For one, that was more suited to Wes's character instead of the part that wanted him to act like a deranged, perverted desperado. The second reason... Ein was sitting so that he was facing Wes; right arm resting against the back of the bench and an expression on his face to wonder if he was actually watching a statue or something as motionless.

"Eh, sorry about this, i'm not used to what i'm currently coping with..." Wes said after a few more moments, mentally cursing himself for acting like such an embarrassed, fangirling child around Ein. "So shall I talk first or you? Although I do have some questions I want to ask you..."

"It was I who asked you what you were thinking about first, if you remember," Ein interrupted, secretly enjoying how Wes was behaving around him. "Only fair, isn't it?" he then retorted, rubbing his chin with his left hand.

"Yeah, I guess..." the seventeen year old replied, willing himself to act as normal as he could from this point onwards. "Okay, well... stupid question I know, but that second battle we had here inside Realgam Tower, what was it like for you apart from the fact that you lost?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"To be blunt, it'll help with what i'm eventually going to say to you."

Ein thought about Wes's question for a few lengthy seconds before giving the younger man his answer. "I was expecting a fairly decent battle from you; after battling myself and both of my fellow admins once before and scoring three victories I was expecting nothing less from a teenager who could only get stronger. Yet at the same time I was completely shocked to find you so much better then I thought... despite all the tactics I could muster you still beat me... fairly." he added as a final thought, half-heartedly shrugging at the same time. "Will that do for an answer?"

"Well..." Wes inwardly sighed, slightly disappointed as it wasn't really the answer he was hoping to hear. "What I meant was that... did you feel anything? Emotions i'm referring to."

"I already said that I felt surprised to see you battle the way you did here at Realgam." the older man commented matter-of-factly, "Plus I won't deny that at the time I was just a small bit aggravated at you snagging Raikou and smirking like you did afterwards... and that girl annoyed me in a certain way too with her look of victory. Surprise and anger... they are emotions too you know." came the end to the reply, sarcasm laced within it.

"Yeah, I already fuck..." the light haired male trailed off, wondering if Ein was being this stubborn and difficult on purpose yet at the same time not noticing the cocky smile that was now plastered all over the older man's face. "Okay, fine. You asked me a cent for my thoughts first, so you better get your money out and pay."

Ein was now very tempted to rummage in the pockets of his laboratory coat and confidently flick a coin in Wes's direction, but he restrained himself as he had a funny feeling that he was going to enjoy what his former enemy was going to say. Wes took a deep breath and began, knowing at that the end he was going to feel like a broken record having just said what he was about to say to Dash, more or less.

"It practically started when I was thirteen and before I joined Team Snagem. I was in Agate Village for a reason that I cannot remember when some fucking lunatic female pounced on me and sent me flying, saying that she had this crush on me for ages and wanted to be with me forever and a day. I must merely laughed, told her that it would never happen and walked off, leaving her there and probably making her wonder why I acted such a fucking prick to her. The answer was simple..."

"You weren't attracted to her?" Ein mused thoughtfully, not taking his gaze away from Wes. The rogue nodded before continuing

"It wasn't just her though... even when I was on missions for Team Snagem and had to go in disguise girls in Pyrite would send their bloody hormones into overdrive and try and chat me up, for lack of a better saying... and each and every time I shunned them, not even being the slightest bit interested in them. Heh, talk about a fucking annoyance."

There was a slight pause, as Wes grudgingly mentally relived the memory of one of the girls that fancied him in the past declaring that she would like to have a plethora of his babies when he was only fifteen years old. Yet that pause was for all for Ein to conclude a different thing, keeping a growing sense of disappointment inside him.

"Then along came that girl and suddenly everything went bright and rosy, you fell for her, she felt the same way and now since defeating my former alliance you are now living happily ever after. Great." Ein would have then rolled his eyes and walked away at that point, but saying what he just said changed Wes's action in an instant... one minute the younger man was sitting on the bench listening, the next he was standing up, eyes filled with fury and fists clenched so tightly the tips of the fingers were harshly digging into the palms. Ein would have just laughed, but he was hoping that Wes was going to say what he wished he would say...

"Rui is fucking well NOT my girlfriend, al-fucking-right?"

Bingo.

"Well how was I supposed to notice, huh? It's not like I knew much about you up until this point in time." Ein spoke simply as a reply, trying not to make his voice sound too eager.

Wes instantly calmed down, once again mentally cursing himself for acting a moron around Ein, even if people saying that Rui was his girlfriend and his one true love always instantly hit a raw nerve with him. He unclenched his fists and sat back down on the bench, folding his arms and crossing his right leg over his left knee.

"Yeah... you're right. I'm sorry. Yet it does fuck me off when people assume that Rui is my girlfriend as well as my partner against the villains."

"I see, guess I should also apologize for thinking that way then... but I get the impression that Rui did change something."

"You're right in a way..." Wes started, properly chewing over Ein's words before carrying on. "After rescuing her from a pair of your peons I felt it right to let her assist me on my quest to stop your Shadow Pokemon plan... and from the start I got all these fucking twats jump to conclusions that Rui was my girlfriend. I would have been driven insane but then one day in Pyrite a Chaser told me to "ditch the wallflower" and that sent Rui over the edge who then told me to "prove her wrong". It was at that point that not only did I feel relief that somebody else seemed to share my apathetic ways towards love but it also inspired me to talk to her about it... so I did that night after we checked into that piss poor psychedelic shack Pyrite calls a hotel." the rogue stopped for a few seconds to take in Ein's amused reaction to what he just said before finishing off what he was going to say. "After our chat I wondered if I was asexual, as I seemed to have no attraction towards anybody at all whereas Rui admitted to being straight but not being interested in romance after her last boyfriend, but then along came something that shook me for six."

"Something..." Ein questioned, taking off his dark shades and rubbing them clean with the sleeve of his coat. "Or someone?"

"Someone, now that I think about it... or rather, know about it." Wes agreed, knowing that what he was about to say next would basically change everything that was going to happen in the very near future whether it was going to be good or whether it was going to be bad. "You, to be precise."

Now that was something Ein was not expecting as the sheer shock of hearing Wes say those four words so calmly and suddenly caused him to drop his shades on the ground below, shattering one of the lenses into little smithereens. The idea was for the former Cipher admin to toy with him for as long as possible and then just blurt out what he was thinking about at the click of a finger, but instead all he could do was lean back against the bench and look at Wes, who was carefully studying the older man's reaction to what he just said and was also noticing how perfectly sexy his eyes looked without the shades hiding them.

"Care to elaborate or is that it?"

"If you want." Wes replied, relived that Ein didn't whack him across the face yet at the same time slightly disappointed that he couldn't detect any other emotion from him. "Well if you must know I started feeling... attracted towards you at Realgam Tower, which is why I asked you how you felt during and after our battle. The longer the battle went on the more I was starting to feel gutted cause I knew that afterwards you would vanish and all I could do was carry on with ridding Orre of Cipher and hide the feelings."

"You didn't even tell Rui about it, considering you said she was with someone before you two teamed up?"

"Nope, I even kept it hidden from Rui. Partly because I was now Orre's hero, saviour and champion and didn't really have a chance because of all the fangirls going crazy and worshipping me every second of every damn day, partly because I was unsure of how I was feeling towards you... yet as the days went on I knew that what I was going through was attraction because my heart was aching at not seeing you and Rui actually mentioned about her heart aching when she first got together with her now ex-boyfriend. However I still kept it to myself and each day the fact that I had to keep it quiet from everybody was slowly starting to piss me off and make me snappy. I flung a guy in a fountain today because of him thinking that Rui and I were lovers." Wes then left as a brief afterthought, taking a few moments to catch his breath before finally finishing what he has been trying to say to everyone all this time.

"I would train Raikou after dark without Rui knowing as it was your Pokemon. I continued to train Raikou after purifying it... again, without Rui knowing... because in my own way it made me feel close to you and as for this..." Wes stared down at the yellow card, which was now basically crumpled from the fist clenching earlier. "I have kept it in my pocket ever since we battled three weeks ago. I have even been there three times since our fight for that off chance that I would see you again. Case in short Ein i'm gay, I have a crush on you and you're not only my first crush, but the first one who I have explained this entire situation to, so congratulations."

"No certificate?" Ein said as quick as a flash, getting a short, sharp glare from Wes in reply. "Ah I kid, I kid... always good to get things out in the open. So how do you feel after telling me your little story?"

"Like a whole fucking weight has been lifted off my shoulders." came the reply, letting off a contented, happy sigh. "Guess i'm also thankful that you haven't run off to declare this to the media or something."

"As said Wes, I don't see us as enemies anymore, I have no need to spread around gossip... and besides, i'm too old for those childish games." Ein quipped honestly, stroking his thumb along his chin thoughtfully. "Mmm... I suppose I should state my side of the story now, question is, how many pages do you want to read?"

Wes could feel his cheeks starting to tingle at Ein's question, still struggling to get over the fact that he just comes out with all these sarcastic comments laced with double meanings and stuble hints. He shook his head a little to try and stop himself from blushing yet again and let off a small smile.

"However many pages you want to read to me."

"Well I will be honest with you, it's a pretty short book but I hope you enjoy listening to the tale regardless..." Ein half-heartedly shrugged before starting with his side. "Unlike you, I knew I myself was homosexual at fifteen, after not being remotely interested in any female and then one night copping off with the brother of some girl who fancied me and starting a secret relationship with him that lasted about four months. However like you, I kept everything to myself... homosexuality is still very taboo in some areas and I didn't want to be judged purely on that, so during my twenties while studying science and eventually becoming a member of Cipher any relationship I had was kept secret even though they never lasted long enough for me to properly fall in love with them."

"Then of course... seeing as you were with Cipher I am guessing that it didn't really help much."

"Of course it didn't. Can you imagine my boss Evice finding out? He would have thrown a temper so badly it would have made him bounce off the walls, the podgy git he was... but I kid. Even though he never knew about my sexuality Evice was the one who promoted me to an admin, entrusted me with inventing the first Snag Machine and saw massive potential in my scientific knowledge... so back then, Cipher was always top priority and any relationship was always shoved to second place, always."

Wes nodded, very much intrigued with what Ein was telling him. "So was that how it stayed until I defeated you all?"

"Definitely, although a complication came up before you beating us all that made me start to think."

"Oh, I get it now..." the rogue realised, clicking his fingers to emphasise with what he was thinking. "Another guy come along, am I right?"

"You are right." Ein nodded, smiling from how Wes was being so naive with what he was saying to him. "It was during Cipher's last plan... the plan that you stopped... that I first met him. We actually battled and even though I pulled out all the stops, he still won and deep down, a small part of me was glad that he did. I watched him go and hoped that we would meet again and we did about two weeks alter, here at this tower. We battled for a second time, he won a second time... and all I could do was run away. I wanted to say something to him there and then about him making me feel like I did for him but I was a coward and fled from the scene. Since that day I have been here six times since... the place that we properly met... hoping that I would see him again. Something compelled me to come here tonight and i'm glad I did, as I found out that the guy who I should have hated yet very much was attracted to was here and hey presto, I found out that during our second battle he also felt a spark. Life is now very much fantastic."

"Heh, that's great for you... really." Wes eventually managed to say, failing to hide the disappointment in his voice. He would have then asked Ein who it was he was attracted to yet he never did as the older man leaned in close, putting his left arm around the younger male's waist and closing down the proximity between their faces to just a few centimetres.

"Wes, you dimwit... i'm talking about you."

Silence besieged the scene for a few minutes before a small wind finally decided to make its presence known, weaving in and out of the small gap between both Wes and Ein and also elegantly circling their heads, leaving a low whistling sound in their ears. The younger male was staring into the eyes of the older man, mouth partially open and once again letting his mind come out with a mental barrage of swear words for just acting like the most gullible and naive person on the planet's entirety. Ein was smiling, not removing his arm from around Wes's waist and matching his gaze, patiently waiting for the moment that he would finally say something to break the quietness...

"So wishes can come true... interesting." the rogue finally said, looking down at the now damaged sunshine yellow card that he had kept with him, the same card that he made a wish on some time ago.

"To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act." Ein replied thoughtfully, removing his arm from around Wes's waist and leaning back against the bench. "I've lived by that saying for many years and tonight it seems to have worked again."

"Yeah... in a way it has..." the former Team Snagem member mused, taking in each individual word that Ein just said before realizing something, again clicking his fingers to emphasize the new thought. "Wait a fucking minute, you actually did feel a spark between our battle at this tower! Why didn't you just say so when I asked you?"

A few nods came from the older man before Ein gave his answer. "Two reasons really; the first because I wanted to know a bit more about you before telling you how I felt... be honest, we didn't know that much about each other until tonight... and the second because I got pleasure from seeing you spout out speeches other than being usually blunt."

"You bastard."

"My parents were married before I was born... so no, that's not me."

Wes was instantly dumbstruck by Ein's latest little bit of cockiness and he could feel yet another little flush of scarlet adorn his cheeks. Ein tutted a few times and sighed.

"I told you, just the white stripe is better unless you are trying to go for the whole rainbow "homosexual pride" look."

"Gah... shut up!" Wes whined, covering his cheeks yet again. "Although I suppose i'll just have to get used to this; you coming out with all this sarcasm at the blink of a fucking eye."

"Definitely... and i'll have to get used to your ability to speak garbage and your little bouts of angst, anger and confusion. I'm sure i'll be fine though, i've been there, done that and burned the t-shirt and there's also the fact that helping you out with your worries will be rewarding."

"Swearing helps me to express my feelings a little better, it's always been my way and you can ask Rui that..." Wes trailed off, getting up from the bench to stretch his limbs, mind now dancing a full blown disco rave upon knowing that the guy he has fancied for twenty one days has liked him back for a even longer period of time. Ein chose to remain seated, looking behind him to observe Realgam Tower for a few minutes; a place that he thought he would hate for it marked the end of Cipher's criminal rampage yet was actually a place he liked an immense deal otherwise none of this would ever have happened.

Putting the crumpled yellow card back into his pocket, Wes then sat back down on the bench and turned to face Ein, who then averted his gaze from the tower to the rogue.

"So what happens now?" the younger male asked, also leaning against the bench.

"You really are clueless to this whole "romance" scenario, aren't you?" Ein chuckled, folding his arms behind his head and gaining another short, sharp glare from Wes. "Well normally when two people who have some sort of infatuation towards each other they usually start up a relationship and follow their hearts more than their heads. We've done the confessing part... yet the relationship..." he trailed off.

"What about the relationship?"

"The relationship... much as I really don't want it to be... will have to wait."

"I'm not sure I understand."

Ein wondered for a few moments about the best way to go about saying what he was currently thinking about before asking Wes a question. "If you were at your lowest ebb, felt that things were against you and that what you were really feeling couldn't ever be resolved, would you try and make things just that little bit better and start up a relationship with someone you considered your closest friend yet was a person you could never be attracted to, ever?"

Wes took no time in answering what was asked to him. "No, that's not my nature at all. I could never do that to Rui even if she did fancy me... I respect her friendship way too much to string her along like a fucking puppet."

"Then you are a bigger man than myself," Ein concluded, briefly looking at the star littered sky. "For that's exactly what I did... and that's exactly what I am still doing."

"Fucking Hell!" Wes cried suddenly before thinking it over once more. "Mind you, i'm glad that you did tell me; I may never have dated anyone but I would hate to be two-timed, even if I do like you."

The former Cipher admin couldn't help but smile at the last comment just spoken. "So you're not annoyed?"

"Nope, why should I be? Instead I thank you for being so damn honest with me."

"I told you, I have nothing to hide from you anymore... and I want things to run as smoothly as possible between us." Ein remarked softly, even though there was a niggle deep down inside of him as he had no intention of telling Wes who it was he was currently in a sham relationship with... well, not for a while anyway.

"That's cool." Wes spoke happily, mouth forming into a smile so wide it could easily house a small Pokemon for the night. "Yet..." he then said thoughtfully, smile disappearing as quickly as it graced the teenager's face. "What actually does happen now?"

"The only way that can happen to ensure that it runs smoothly. I like you, you like me and we both want to be with each other, agreed?" Ein stated, earning a quick nod from Wes before carrying on with his mini speech. "The deal is this. You go back to Phenac, tell Rui that you're a homosexual and also tell your army of whinging females the same story so they can leave you alone. I go back to where I came from and end my sham relationship. We meet back here exactly one week from today at eleven pm sharp and we start going out. Simple."

"Yeah, that sounds great as I really need to tell Rui about my sexuality before it does my... wait, a week?"

"You have no idea who i'm with at the minute. Temperamental is a severe understatement."

"Ha, serves you right!" Wes laughed, getting a playful push from Ein. "Okay then, one week from now. I think I can manage that..." he said, yawning at the same time.

"Somebody is tired... or am I boring you?"

"Fuck off are you boring! For fucks sake..." Wes spoke with a hint of sharpness, not knowing that once again Ein was lacing his comments with sarcasm. "No, today has been fucking crazy to the extreme and now all I want to do is sleep. No offence."

"None taken... so, where are you heading off to?"

"Nowhere, as i've given Rui the impression that I won't be seeing her till the morning... we had an argument, but it was mainly my bloody fault... so I might as well do with crashing out here. At least there is no fangirls wanting my autograph and pinching my arse."

Ein couldn't help but laugh at the arse pinching comment before turning to face Wes, gaining a small smile and at the same time gaining another flush of a crimson red on the cheeks of the younger male. "You know Wes, sleeping here on your own is pretty dangerous even for someone like yourself... so how about I stay here too? I'm good at excuses; i'll palm off my "partner" easily."

"Fine... but I hope you don't snore! Rui does and I can hear her in the next fucking room!"

"Just make sure you don't sleeptalk and we'll get on like a house on fire."

At that point in time a bright white light started to glow from Wes's belt, causing both men to look at where said light was coming from. Brilliant snow white sparks shot everywhere and a beam of the same amazing colour made its way from the belt of the rogue to Ein's lap. The former Cipher admin looked confused but Wes instantly knew what was happening as the light slowly formed into a being coloured a midnight black and littered with a few golden rings on its body... Umbreon. The elemental creature looked at his trainer, then at the man whose lap he was sitting on. He then continued to look back and forth between the two men in a very dizzying fashion before tilting his head to the right and grinning.

"BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Ein instantly winced and covered his ears from Umbreon's seemingly neverending wail. "I didn't know that your Pokemon was a part time foghorn!"

"Nah, Umbreon's just generally more hyper than Espeon." the rogue replied with content, patting the Moonlight Pokemon on the head and getting a series of quieter yet just as excited cries as his reward. "Not only that but I think he sussed that something was up with me... him squealing like a child just now proves that."

"Ah, right..." Ein uncovered his ears and looked at Umbreon, who then looked at Ein slightly intrigued before covering the former Cipher admin's face with a series of supremely contented licks. "I had a shower this morning thank you!"

Wes laughed at the show being put on in front of him. "Heh, I think he's put the past behind too!"

"Bree umbree bree bree br umbreon umbreeeeeee bree!"

"Just as well then, but even if your Pokemon didn't dismiss the past i'd still want to be with you regardless."

"Heh... and i'd also want to be with you too Ein." Wes replied, putting a hand on Umbreon to stop him from condemning Ein to a lick induced death yet also letting off another smile because he couldn't deny it, this was the happiest he had been feeling since three weeks ago and he wasn't going to hide it for anybody this time around.

After a few minutes Umbreon finally calmed down from his seemingly endless array of "Bree"'s and also let off a little yawn, which in turn also caused Wes to yawn again. Ein... who despite having an exceedingly excitable Pokemon on his lap was also smiling from everything that had just happened tonight since arriving at Realgam Tower... outstretched his right arm as an invitation for Wes to get closer to him. Wes took the invitation gladly, moving himself right next to Ein and leaning against him while Ein wrapped his arm around Wes's waist protectively. Resting his head against his chest, Wes muttered a quiet but joyful goodnight to both Umbreon and Ein and closed his eyes, hoping to dream some amazing visions. The Moonlight Pokemon nodded as his reply to his trainer's goodnight and let off another, longer yawn before curling up on Ein's lap and also closing his eyes.

Ein looked around for a few moments, very much delighted that what happened tonight did occur... yet that niggle he originally got a while back couldn't help but return, making him sigh. He made a mental promise that in a week's time Wes would know more about the sham relationship he was in at the minute and then enjoyed the silence of the night, blinking when he heard the sound of the wind randomly echo in the distant east. Smiling, Ein playfully rubbed his right hand through the now fast asleep Wes's hair and placed a kiss on his forehead before getting himself comfortable and finally letting his eyelids glaze over pupils of a cold, icy blue.


End file.
